So as I mentioned last week, Caitlin Bauer of Royal Social Media and I are working on rebranding me as an author. She mentioned that in addition to a unified series of colors and fonts, I should also consider a logo and a tagline that stems from my author mission statement. Here are some of my thoughts. Weigh in if you have ideas!
I like my fonts: Cinzel is probably my favorite. Example:
Aside from the fact that penultimate is just an awesome word and it would probably look great in any font, I like the bold blocky letters—with a slight bit of styling at the end. To me that says (should anyone analyze me so much) that the writing is clear and straightforward, but with a little bit of flair. I kind of hate the scripts for this purpose… too flowery. They seem to say, expect long paragraphs of description chock-full of adjectives, and a heroine with “tawny” hair and “violet” eyes. No, thank you.
Colors: these, too, when I stop to think about it, all convey emotions.
- Red: makes me think of murder or seduction. Neither is really my bag.
- Orange and yellow: too cheerful. I mean, I like cheerful, but it can be overdone, like a song by The Carpenters… and in general, too cheerful comes off either cheesy or else very young, like a book for gradeschoolers.
- Green: this is the color theme for my naturopathic business. It says nature, natural… not really what I’m after here
- Blue: by itself I find blue kind of boring. But push it into the midnight color scheme, and then add:
- Purple: not the bright royal purple, but more violet than anything else (but not as in my heroine’s eyes). Something about purple says whimsy or fantasy to me… the darker versions of it suggest there’s some suspense and tension, but it’s not like, horror and occult dark. I’m not into that.
So I’m thinking a color scheme kind of like this:
Which brings me to the part I’m struggling with a bit. The mission statement as an author: oh boy, I’d never thought about this before. I was just writing and trying to make it entertaining. But when I reflected on the messages of both trilogies (I know I’ve only published “The Liberty Box” of that trilogy so far, but “The Eden Conspiracy” will come out in a few weeks and I’m already writing the last book of the series, tentatively titled “The Potentate,”) I realized that there was a common theme, and it was this:
Things aren’t always as they seem.
Or, don’t automatically accept the obvious. Question reality. Your thoughts and beliefs have great power to shape your reality: make sure that what you are thinking and believing reflects truth and not a lie.
So, translating that into a logo and a pithy catch-phrase, I’ve brainstormed the following options. Votes? Alternate suggestions?
- Tagline: “Look again” or “Take a Second Look,” and either a magnifying glass or a pair of spectacles, or maybe even a candle. Or, the tagline could be written on a torn scroll, and there’s a flashlight illuminating the words…
- Tagline: “Thinks aren’t always what they seem,” or “Question Reality.” And a logo… man, I really want something that has two different images in one, like that one magic eye trick where it would alternately look like an old woman or a young one depending on where the viewer places his focus. But that was much too intricate for a logo… something way simpler than that.
- Other logos I like but can’t figure out the connection: an hourglass, a pendulum, a candelabra (though a popular YA author, Chanda Hahn, already has a candelabra as her logo), even fireflies though I can’t see how that relates…
I would looooove for you to weigh in! What logo ideas are your favorites here, or do you have other suggestions? What about tag lines?
What kinds of websites really catch your eye? Do you like stark white and everything obvious and easy to find? A photo or image in the background somehow? A sleek, modern look?
